Rolls-Royce Motor Cars presents Phantom Regatta, a one-of-one Phantom Extended commission which pays tribute to the racing yachts of the English South Coast and to the regattas they contest each summer on the Solent - among them the historic Cowes Week.
These stretches of water, together with neighbouring Chichester Harbour, are visible from the Goodwood Estate, where the motor car will be unveiled during the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed. They are also bound to the marque's co-founder, Sir Henry Royce, whose beloved home, Elmstead, is located in the coastal village of West Wittering, just eight miles away from the marque's present-day headquarters.
The exterior of the motor car is finished in Regatta Blue, a deep marine tone, over a lower body of English White, applied as a hand-laid two-tone treatment that recalls the line where a yacht's hull meets the water. The motor car is set on 22-inch fully polished disc wheels, their mirror surfaces recalling the polished steel winches of a racing yacht.
The interior colourway evokes a yacht under full sail: Deep blue water below, with white canvas above. The front is appointed in Navy Blue leather; the rear suite is finished in Grace White, suggesting sailcloth and wake. Seat and door piping, contrast stitching and the steering wheel are presented in both tones, and the RR monograms are embroidered in Turchese, the same turquoise as clear inshore water.
The veneer is Piano Milori paired with Open Pore Royal Walnut, hand-finished in satin to the Waterfall, rear doors and picnic table tops. Completing the picnic tables alone required around 120 hours of precision craftsmanship. They are finished as a yacht deck, each composed of 16 'planks' of Royal Walnut, cut from the same section of wood to ensure uniformity in the grain pattern. The 'planks' were laid by hand from the centre outwards, mirroring the grain to achieve a bookmatched effect. Between them runs a thin length of Black Bolivar wood, just 2mm wide and cut as one piece to avoid any visible joins, in the manner of deck caulking.
The centrepiece of the interior is a hand-painted Gallery artwork, named Watercolour, was created by the marque's in-house artist using specially developed paints on an open-pore wooden substrate. To capture the movement of waves and open water, the artist created a new blending technique, refined over two weeks across numerous test panels as colours and application methods were trialled and adjusted to match their vision for a faithful interpretation of the sea.
Above the interior suite, the marque's craftspeople have created a Bespoke Starlight Headliner. The pattern design comprises 1,307 hand-placed fibre optic 'stars' and is inspired by the swirling tidal currents around the Isle of Wight. This exquisitely crafted reference is complemented by Illuminated Doors.
The motor car keeps one detail hidden. Each 'eyeball' air vent is engraved with a set of geographic coordinates, visible only when the vent is tilted forward. The passenger-side vent includes the coordinates of Goodwood House, 50°52'12"N 00°44'24"W; the driver-side vent carries those of the Home of Rolls-Royce, 50°51'13"N 00°44'40"W. The two points sit within a mile of one another, and together they fix Phantom Regatta to the place from which it came.
